4 November 2007

4 November 2007
Swaziland
Hi everyone from Ezulwini, Swaziland,
The trip from Pleasanton to our home base at the Lugogo Sun Hotel at Ezlwini was uneventful but long. I left Pleasanton at 8:00 PM and arrived here after 10: PM almost two days later. Given that there is 12 hours different in time zones, that makes for a trip about 36 hours long. The 15.5 hour trip from Washington DC (Dulles) was the first time I really was uncomfortable sitting in an airliner seat. The good news is that the return flight will have one stop for gas and will take 18 hours 45 minutes with another couple of long layovers at Dulles and LAX. I leave Swaziland around noon on Thursday, catch my flight out of Johannesberg at 8:00 PM and arrive back at San Francisco at about 8:00 PM on Saturday. You figure the time, I don’t think I want to think about it.
Driving through the Johannesburg area was a bit of a shock to me. I have clear and vivid memories of driving around Cape Town, .South Africa. Those memories included driving English style on the wrong side of the road and, more importantly, scenes of buildings and businesses that were established in the nineteenth century. Additionally, the neighborhoods outside of Cape Town were typically shanty towns with tin roofed shacks and muddy dirt roads. The “freeway exposure” of Johannesburg offered no such picture. Instead, thousands of houses that looked like they had been built in the last twenty years with fenced yards and attached garages were everywhere. The tracts of houses could have been seen just as easily in Stockton or Tracy. This heavily industrialized city had hundred upon hundreds of large construction facilities surrounded by smaller supplier type businesses. Large parking lots at most business sites suggested that workers were making enough to own and drive cars, something often obviously missing in most third world countries. The upscale housing continued for at least twenty miles as our freeway headed out of town to the east. The experience certainly created a new image for South Africa in my mind.
Our drive from Johannesburg to the Swaziland border reminded me of driving across Wyoming several times in recent years. The low rolling hills broken up by relatively flat plains which were often devoted to some kind of agriculture; but nothing like Wyoming. I thought I should see a lot of cattle and sheep grazing but that wasn’t the case.
A storm was building as we drove east. The lightning lit up the sky at frequent intervals making our entrance into a different part of the world dramatic to say the least. The four lane divided highway out of Johannesburg allowed us to travel along at Greyhound bus speed passing a few trucks but being passed by an occasional passenger car. The highway was a toll road that required us to stop periodically to cough up some sort of fare before continuing eastward. We stopped at a large Shell Gas Station to use the well maintained large toilet facilities and to spend some of our newly acquired Rands on snacks. The Rand currently sells for about seventeen cents and the prices of things seemed reasonable and much less than we expect at our gas station convenience stores. While Swaziland has its own money system and bills, the system is based on the South African Rand and the two currencies are interchangeable.
Crossing the border into the “Kingdom of Swaziland” was an unusual experience. We off loaded from our bus to walk through the South Africa passport check and then we walked about thirty yards and did the same thing at the Swaziland station. Each dutifully stamped our passports for the record. There was a beautiful wall sized sign on the Swaziland side welcoming us to the Kingdom of Swaziland. I whipped out my trusty digital but was quickly reminded by one of the more knowledgeable fellow travelers that such was not allowed. In fact, had I taken a picture the king’s men would ask for my camera and not return it. I didn’t have the slightest idea such could occur and was more than happy with the timely reminder.
Once across the border, the terrain changed immediately. The low rolling hills and plains became hills with much more character and low rugged peaks in almost every direction. The showy lightning storm became a gentle rain with low lying clouds hanging on many of the low mountain peaks. The change was so sudden and dramatic that there was no question we had entered a new and different place.
Entering Swaziland, we left for a while the broad and often divided highways of South Africa. The roadways became narrower and more often not simple roads with a line down the middle separating the two lanes. We were, incidentally, still traveling British style, on the left (wrong) side of the road. As we approached our destination city of Ezulwini, a divided highway once again greeted us as we wound our way around the city to an area featuring several really nice hotels. Our hotel, the Lugogo Sun, was one of several related hotels featuring the sur name Sun. Our hotel bordered on a marvelous eighteen hotel golf course that was meticulously groomed as any I have seen. On the opposit side of the golf course was yet another hotel, the Swaziland Spa and Hotel. The Lugogo Sun rated at least four stars and could probably garner its fifth star if it added a concierge desk. Our room was every bit as nice as the nicer hotel chains across the US and seemed to cater to tour groups like ours. There were always three or more large tour busses parked in the parking lot.
On our first day, we set off at 8:00 AM to the New Hope facility. We were given an orientation to New Hope by Dr. Elizabeth Hynd, the developer of the program and current administrator. Dr. Hynd is a white native of Zwaziland and the daughter of a medical doctor who follows in his father’s footsteps as a medical doctor in Swaziland. She is a bright and capable lady who wears the grandest of smiles at all times. She is often seen carrying one of the younger children around on her hip. She is a slight little lady who radiants strength and vitality and intellect. In the story of the birth of her program, she tells of speaking directly to the King of Swaziland about the depth of the problem of orphaned children and how she could help. She gained the support she needed from the King to begin and has personally raised the funds necessary for the continuation of her work.
We were met at New Hope by students trained to guide visitors around the campus. We toured the preschool facility, a large meeting hall/classroom building called the Tabernacle, a dormitory facility where all of the school age children live, a farm area where much of what the children eat is grown and where a small dairy is planned for the future and a new dormitory facility under construction that will double the programs capacity for housing school age children. Considering that the program is less than ten years old, that which we saw was clearly remarkable. The New Hope fracility is perched near the top of a small mountain in the Pigg Mountain Peakarea in a township known as Bethany.
Each member of our group was assigned a task group and a specific assignment. My group of four men was assigned the task of repainting the dormitory that housedsthe younger school aged boys. The room had been decorated with walls painted yellow covered by large and small colored circles. The walls had suffered the natural use of up to twelve boys over a period of several years and was ready to have its painted freshened. Our task was to repaint the circles, that the boys refer to as their balloons, and the back ground yellow paint. In two days we completed the task that was assumed to be a week long task. As a result, we were asked to complete a project that another group had started but not finished. In both the older boy’s and the older girl’s dormitories, a small area had been walled off to provide the supervisor who slept with the kids a small amount of privacy. Studs had been installed and sheetrock installed on one side of the wall. Our task is to complete the second side of sheetrock, tape and prepare the walls for painting and paint the finished product. We have begun the project finding that the preceding team had not done a very good job with the studding installation. We will redo that which is necessary and continue with our effort over the next couple of days.
The work has been very satisfying and has satisfied the need that all of us came to Swaziland to fulfill; to do something meaningful and helpful where it is needed.
My reading of the history of Swaziland has been interesting. The country was a British Colony from early in the nineteenth century. The British allowed the King of Swaziland to exist but not as a king but rather as an unofficial governor. Swaziland became an independent nation in 1968. The British left behind a constitution that they had “helped” the country to adopt. The minute the British left, the King set aside the constitution and wrote his own laws. Swaziland is a bit of an anomaly for an African nation in that its people have never fought a war with a white or European power.
Swazilanders are peaceful accepting people who like their King and take offense of any disparaging remarks about his ruling. They abhor violence and it would difficult for anyone who knows the people to imagine a Swazilander hurting anyone. None the less, we are repeatedly told not to wander away from the hotel at night or go anywhere during the day by ourselves. Women are told that to wear slacks or jeans in public is to invite being raped. Nice ladies wear skirts and dresses and only the other kind of lady would ever appear in public in pants. Other than that, the Swazis are a peaceful and loving people.
Past kings of Swaziland have practiced polygamy as does anyone who currently can afford the price of multiple wives. The first King of Swaziland is believed to have had so many wives that he could actually have a different wife for each day of the year. The current King has only nine wives and doesn’t appear to be interested in setting any new records.
I have met some truly wonderful people in the last few days. I hope to get to know more of our team of 30 better as the week unfolds. My work team consists of a man of about my age who writes books and claims to have shared the authorship of a book with Peter Marshall (former chaplain of the House of Representatives). Another man from Atlanta is a former house painter who has become a popular radio host in the Atlanta, Georgia area. The forth in our team is a small time building contractor / landscape gardener who is in the process of being trained to become a full time Baptist minister. The writer, who writes books on religious topics, told our group at dinner tonight that he had a knock down drag out argument with God before dinner. He said he felt better about the encounter and God told him he forgave him. During dinner there was a tremendous clap of rolling thunder that made the lights blink and the walls shake. I told my new friend that perhaps God wasn’t really through with their conversation and things weren’t really as copasetic as he presumed. He assured me that after the thunder display he had committed to some more time on his knees.
I have been using the golf course next door for my morning walks. It takes me about fifty minutes to circle one of the nine hole segments of the course. The first morning out I came across two families of small monkeys cavorting on one of the fare ways. I looked for them the second day but couldn’t find them. The monkeys are probably what we call in our zoos Spider Monkeys. When I told one of my new friends about seeing the monkeys, every one wanted to hear all about it. I haven’t noticed anyone going out to commune with the monkeys on their own yet.
This has truly been an interesting few days……….so far.
My love to all,
GrandpaDad